By James Gatdet Dak May 17, 2009 (JUBA) -- "I have been
telling people for several years that if the words of Ngundeng were
true, the dang would be found and returned to our land,"said elder
Gatkuoth Deng. "hen I heard this news about dang last month that it
was found and be brought home, I could recall my arguments about
it,"he continued.

A rapturous reception of Ngundeng's dang as the plane carrying
it got engulfed in the middle of the runway by a crowd of thousands of
people wanting to touch or see it, Juba, May 16, 2009 (photo ST -
J.G.Dak)

It was in April this year that news began to spread about the
coming back of a historical artifact which many people forgot about, but
some believed it would return to South Sudan someday. This is an
artifact called 'dang' or rod which was divine to Ngundeng
Bong. He was believed to be a prophet in some parts of Upper Nile region
from around 1840's until his peaceful death in 1906. The dang
arrived Juba on Saturday, 16th May 2009. Anticipating its arrival time,
thousands of people began to gather at Juba airport looking up at each
plane that was landing from eastern side of the airport. They were told
the plane would come from Nairobi at around 11:30AM. That did not stop
them from starting to stare up in the skies from around 9:00AM looking
for the unidentified plane. Police and airport security personnel were
deployed ready to maintain calm and order if the normal protocol
personnel were to be overwhelmed by the huge crowd. That did not help
either. The plane arrived at around 11:30AM. "That is the
plane," said one informer. In a matter of few minutes the plane
found itself engulfed by thousands of people in the middle of the runway
as police and security personnel were overwhelmed and could not stop the
roaring and fast moving crowd. Douglas Johnson stepped down from the
plane. "That is probably the white man bringing the dang,"
murmured some. I approached Biel Kong, a man among the crowd and
standing near me. "How would you know it is the original dang when
you have never seen it or known how its looks like?" I asked him.
"Ngundeng talked of 'dang mi yiel juoc," he replied. His
answer in Nuer was referring to a foretold Ngundeng's description
of his dang with a 'broken tip from one end.' I decided to ask
another person a similar question to see if the answer would be the same
or not. The other fellow I asked, and who happened to be a university
student in Juba, gave me a different version of proving that the dang
was the original one. "You know, those Europeans are not like us.
They understand the importance of history and so they preserve it for
centuries," he confidently assured me. The crowd continued scanning
every single luggage that the airport personnel were unloading from the
plane hoping to detect the bag carrying the dang. Little did they know
that the dang was already among the bags they were looking at in front
of them. Organizers were waiting for the region's VP Dr. Riek
Machar to receive it. He was still in the VIP's lounge with AU
delegation, led by former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, who had
paid a one-day visit to Juba for talks on peace efforts with the
semi-autonomous government. Suddenly pushing began as bodyguards tried
to open a narrow space through which Dr. Machar could get to where the
bag was. He got hold of the bag and began to struggle through his way
back. A peaceful chaos ensued. The crowd encircled him, grabbing his
shoulders trying to stop him as every body wanted to touch the bag or
see it at a close range. "If I can get a chance to touch it I would
be very happy indeed," shouted one struggler. A bull got
slaughtered beside the plane for 'kier' or sacrifice to
welcome home the dang. At Machar's residence thousands of people
began to gather in anticipation of a celebration where he and Douglas
would open the bag and display the dang for people to see. More
government ministers, MPs and elders began to arrive. By about 1:00PM
the celebrations began. Musicians and traditional dancers took to the
stage to entertain the already exciting crowd. Traditional songs by
group dancers from different tribes could be heard from all corners.
Others were chanting the songs of Ngundeng amid ululations and blowing
of trumpets. Understandably, Dinka and Nuer group dancers and
traditional singers dominated the scene, probably because of their long
time knowledge about Ngundeng. After several speeches by dignitaries, it
was time for Machar and Douglas to open the bag in front of the people.
Every one was eager to see it. The dang, black in colour and looking old
but straight and strong, confirmed the expectation of Biel Kong. It is
broken on the tip of one side, which earned its description by Ngundeng
as 'dang in yiel juoc.' The broken piece (tip) was still held
to the main body by strings which looked like they were made of steel.
Another bull was slaughtered after it was taken out of a long bag. Nuer
elders I spoke to could not tell exactly when the dang was made. Some
say it could be around 1860s some years after Ngundeng assumed his role
of prophet while others are not sure. If the estimation of 1860s is
correct the dang would be about 150 years old. It was taken by the
British colonial administration to England more than 80 years ago in
1927. Ngundeng, whose name means 'Gift of God' in Nuer
language, was born around late 1830s. His father, Bong, originally came
from Bul-Nuer in Western Nuer (present day Unity state), but moved to
Jikany-Nuer in Eastern Nuer (present day Upper Nile state) where
Ngundeng was born. Ngundeng was the only child of his mother, Nyayiel,
who came from the Lou-Nuer in Central Nuer (present day Jonglei state)
where he conducted most of his activities. According to Ngundeng's
book written by Professor Douglas Johnson, Ngundeng's mother gave
birth to him after she was barren for dozens of years and her hair
turned grey and reached menopause as she was very old. Nyayiel then left
her husband, Bong, in Jikany-Nuer and lived with her parents'
relatives in Lou-Nuer until a dream came to her at night commanding her
to go back to Bong so that she would give birth to a child whose name
would be called 'Ngun-Deng.' Some elders recall that
Ngundeng's prophecies during his lifetime generation were
challenged. Whenever he prophesied about future, he would be ridiculed
and called a liar. He would only defend his words by saying that it was
God who gave him the messages and that God could not lie, but "his
delays in fulfilling prophecies are his only lies." When asked
whether this generation's elders believe his prophecies, elder
Makuach could not mince his words. "Yes, we now believe them unlike
his [Ngundeng's] generation because his prophecies are being
fulfilled during this generation," he said. "When we compare
what he said and what is happening now in Sudan, you can without any
doubt see that he was very accurate," Makuach continued. Ngundeng
also built about 60 to 70 feet high pyramid at Bieh around 1880s. It was
bombed and demolished by warplanes of the British colonial
administration during their 27-year on and off war with the Nuer,
leaving a small part of it intact. Mary Boya, a musician from Murle
community, told the crowd that she could hear about Ngundeng when she
was still a very small child in her community. "I could hear about
Ngundeng since I was small but couldn't understand what it was all
about," she explained. "Ngundeng is a prophet of God, his
words are true, but he is not God and cannot be worshipped like
God," replied a young man from Nuer traditional dancers when I
asked him why would some people call Ngundeng God and others call him
Prophet. "People should understand the difference between a
Prophet, God's son and God himself," he said. Deng, a Dinka
youth member from Northern Bahr Ghazal who attended the occasion
declared that Ngundeng was a prophet, not only for South Sudan, but for
all the black people of Africa. "ogether, together, all of us
together,"chanted the crowd as they referred to the unity of the
people of South Sudan. Elders who volunteered to educate people about
Ngundeng at the occasion explained that the prophet was a peace-maker
among the black people of Sudan. According to them, Ngundeng's
lifetime witnessed peace among the Nuer and with their neighbours. They
said he stopped the Nuer from raiding their neighboring tribes and
encouraged good neighborliness. They explained that the dang was used
for peace-making by Ngundeng and never used it to threaten others unless
in self-defense. "This action of self-defense occurred once when he
struck dead invading neighboring tribal warriors with it," the
elders further explained. 16th May was declared during the event as a
day on which the return of dang Ngundeng would be commemorated every
year, probably at his religious headquarters, Bieh, in Wec Deang,
Jonglei state. The day also coincided with the historic day on which the
Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) was founded in
1983. However, the major SPLM/A annual celebration in the capital, Juba,
has been postponed to 26th May this year. (ST)

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